dust Archives

This image features data from Webb’s NIRCam

Astrochemistry: Dust And Water Spotted Close To A Giant Black Hole

by Keith CowingAugust 11, 2026August 11, 2026

[ESA]. Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers have discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to the supermassive black hole […]

The observed extreme debris disks require planet-mass collisions.

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets

Growing Planets Produce Extreme Dust Signatures

by Keith CowingJuly 21, 2026July 21, 2026

[astro-ph.EP] Collisions between planetary bodies are essential to the assembly of rocky planets like the Earth, but they are extremely difficult to observe. We therefore rely on indirect signatures of […]

Mars

MEDaL-1 Mars Lander Science Definition Team

by Keith CowingJuly 17, 2026July 17, 2026

[ESA] Join the Science Definition Team (SDT) to help define the Exploration Science Payload for a proposed future Mars lander: MEDaL-1. Full announcement

Mars

Martian Dust Storms May Ggenerate Atmospheric Electrical Conditions That Could Impact Mars Missions

by Keith CowingJuly 2, 2026July 2, 2026

[UAH] A new study by a doctoral researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, suggests global dust storms on Mars […]

An artist's rendering of Europa and Jupiter based on images sent by visiting spacecraft. Europa is the closest orbiting of the three Jupiter’s large ‘Galilean’ moons to be visited by Juice – any human astronaut that lands there would receive a lethal radiation dose on a timescale of hours. And spacecraft electronics are almost as susceptible to radiation as human biology. CREDIT NASA/JPL-Caltech

Europa, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Earth As A Potential Source Of Llife For Europa’s Subsurface Ocean

by Keith CowingJune 22, 2026June 21, 2026

The paper discusses the possibility of dust particles containing living bacteria ejected from Earth reaching Europa and landing on its surface.

Panels (a)–(o) show contour maps of the observed isophotes (black lines) together with the corresponding modelled isophotes (red lines) for the case 𝑟max = 1 cm. For each of these contour panels, a companion plot is displayed to the right, labelled (a′ )–(o′ ), showing a one-dimensional scan extracted along the direction indicated by the straight red line in the corresponding contour map. In these primed panels, the black and red curves represent the observed and modeled brightness profiles, respectively. The 𝑥- and 𝑦-axes in the contour plots are given in pixel units, and the innermost isophote levels as well as the physical dimensions of each image are listed in Tables 1 and 3. In panels (a)–(o), isophote levels increase outward in steps of 1 mag. In the primed panels, the 𝑥-axis is expressed in pixel units and the 𝑦-axis in surface brightness units (mag arcsec−2). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Dust Colour, Phase Behaviour, And Monte Carlo Modelling Of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS From 4 au Pre- to 4 au Post-Perihelion

by Keith CowingJune 19, 2026June 19, 2026

We report multi-band photometric imaging observations and Monte Carlo dust tail modelling of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS covering a wide range of heliocentric distances, from about 4 au pre-perihelion to […]

Spatial distribution of dynamically active regions, defined as grid cells exceeding a velocity threshold of 0.3 m s−1 , accumulated over the full simulation period and vertically integrated by altitude. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Desert Worlds, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Mars, Status Report

Global Evolution Of Electric Fields During Planet Encircling Dust Storms On Mars

by Keith CowingMay 15, 2026May 15, 2026

Planet-encircling dust storms fundamentally reshape Martian weather and the near-surface electrostatic environment.

The formation mechanism of the lower haze. Cosmic dust entering from space is incorporated into sulfuric acid clouds. As sulfuric acid evaporates at the cloud base, the dust particles remain and coagulate to form the lower haze. ©Hiroki Karyu et al.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Status Report, Venus

Cosmic Dust Identified As The Source Of Venus’ Enigmatic Lower Haze

by Keith CowingApril 17, 2026April 17, 2026

Venus, often called Earth’s twin, is in fact a planet of extremes. Beneath its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere lie crushing surface temperatures and dense clouds of sulfuric acid. While the […]

Stacked images of 3I/ATLAS acquired by HiRIC CMOS camera onboard Tianwen-1 spacecraft (upper row) and the corresponding 1/ρ divided images (lower row) from the three epochs. All images are displayed north up and east to the left. The stacked images are displayed with logarithmic brightness stretch, and the enhanced images are displayed with a linear brightness stretch. The arrows in the upper panels mark the projected directions of the Sun and the heliocentric velocity vector. The scalebars are 10,000 km. The bright star trails are visible in each stack due to the apparent movement of 3I in the sky background during each 30-second observation epoch. -- astro-ph.EP

Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Observed from Mars by China’s Tianwen-1 Spacecraft

by Keith CowingMarch 14, 2026March 14, 2026

China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter successfully imaged the third interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, during its close encounter with Mars using the onboard HiRIC CMOS camera. This is China’s first deep-space observation of […]

(Left) Predicted concretion diameter for different nucleation density scaling exponents α. For α ≤ 1, diffusion controls at the Mars dust grain size and predictions match observations (green band). For α ≥ 1.5, nucleation dominates even at 3 µm, predicting concretions well below the observed range, ruled out by the data. (Right) Crossover grain size as a function of α (log scale). Green region: diffusion-limited zone (crossover above Mars dust at 3 µm). Pink region: nucleation-limited zone. The graincontact derivation (dotted line, α = 1) sits within the diffusion-limited zone, consistent with observations. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Mars, Status Report

Martian Concretion Sizes Predicted From Two Independently Constrained Inputs: Atmospheric Dust Grain Size And Obliquity-forced Wetting Duration

by Keith CowingMarch 13, 2026March 13, 2026

Diagenetic concretions have been identified at multiple widely separated sites on Mars, including Meridiani Planum (Opportunity), Gale crater (Curiosity), and Jezero crater (Perseverance).